User:IJosh64/Kylo Ren

Kylo Ren, a human male, was a Force warrior and a former Jedi trainee under his uncle, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, before Ren destroyed the New Jedi Order and became an apprentice of Supreme Leader Snoke of the First Order. Given the name Ben Solo, he was born after the Battle of Endor to Princess Leia Organa and General Han Solo, whose tumultuous marriage left Ben with feelings of abandonment. This was exploited by the Supreme Leader, who tempted him to the dark side of the Force. Though Organa hoped training with Skywalker would help her son, he was seduced to the dark side, destroyed his fellow Jedi students, and became one of the Knights of Ren, earning the moniker of "Jedi Killer" amongst the First Order ranks. He idolized his grandfather, the fallen Sith Lord Darth Vader, and hoped to finish what Vader started: the elimination of the Jedi. As a member of the First Order, Ren represented its mystical side and was able to command the First Order's armies, leading to a tense competition between Ren and First Order officers, such as General Hux.

After Ren's fall, Skywalker vanished into exile to search for the first Jedi Temple. Years later, the First Order recovered part of a map to Ahch-To, where the temple was found, in the archives of the Galactic Empire. They learned that Lor San Tekka, a member of the Church of the Force on the planet Jakku, had the rest of the map fragment, so Ren commanded the First Order forces in search of the map. The map fell into the hands of the Resistance, as Organa, the leader of the small military opposition to the First Order, hoped to find her twin brother and bring him back into the fight against the dark side. Ren hunted the map across the galaxy and eventually learned that it and the droid who carried it, BB-8, had come into Solo's possession. He tracked them to Takodana, where Ren discovered Rey, a Force-sensitive who had seen the map and was helping BB-8. Ren brought Rey to Starkiller Base, a First Order-controlled planet with a built-in superweapon, and attempted to probe her mind for the map's information, but she resisted and eventually managed to escape. Shortly after, the Resistance attacked Starkiller Base in the hopes of destroying it, and Ren encountered Solo once again. After a brief confrontation, he killed his father, hoping to eliminate the light that Ren struggled with inside himself. Ren then pursued Rey and the fugitive stormtrooper Finn into a forest as the battle raged on above. He engaged both in a lightsaber duel, besting Finn before being beaten and injured by Rey. As Starkiller Base began to implode from the attack, the Supreme Leader ordered General Hux to bring Ren before him.

Biography

Early life

Kylo Ren was born in the year 5 ABY ^[1],to Princess Leia Organa Solo and General Han Solo after the Alliance to Restore the Republic had a decisive victory at the Battle of Endor over the Galactic Empire . Their victory resulted in the deaths of the Emperor, Darth Sidious, and Organa's father, the Sith Lord Darth Vader.^[4] Soon thereafter, the future Kylo was born^[2] with the name of Ben Solo ,^[5] a name he shared with the late Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, who went by the name of Ben Kenobi while in exile on Tatooine after the fall of the Jedi Order.^[6] In his youth, Ben's parents had a tumultuous relationship. Solo, a smuggler before joining the Rebellion, was unable to stay in one place for long.^[7] Organa, meanwhile, became a respected senator in the New Republic,^[8] the government that arose after the Battle of Endor and that had served the Empire a final defeat during the Battle of Jakku around the time of Ben's birth.^[9] Organa and Solo's natures clashed, causing friction in their marriage.^[7]

Growing up, Ben was unaware of his true lineage—that he was the grandson of Darth Vader, born Anakin Skywalker. Only his parents and Organa's twin brother, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, knew the truth. Organa decided to keep the truth from him but planned on telling him when he was older, though by the age of twenty-three he still did not know his grandfather's real identity. She nonetheless hoped that she could tell her son the truth, and that Skywalker could explain that, in the end, Vader was redeemed and that the light inside of Anakin Skywalker had returned. By the same age, Ben had begun training with Skywalker as one of the students in his uncle's new generation of Jedi,^[8] which the Jedi Master was training in the hopes of restoring the Jedi Order. Organa recognized similarities between Ben and Darth Vader and hoped that Skywalker's training could help her son.^[2]

In 28 ABY, the Inner Rim planet of Birren, settled by explorers from Alderaan and Arkanis, suffered the death of its ruling monarch, Lord Mellowyn. His closest living relative was Senator Organa, but she was not interested in its governorship—nor did she believe that Ben would be interested in succeeding her one day. The title passed to Lady Carise Sindian. Shortly thereafter, the truth about Organa's parentage was revealed by her political enemies, including Lady Sindian, in the Galactic Senate. Organa had yet to tell her son about Darth Vader, and she worried out how he would react after finding out about it in such a public way.^[8]

Against the backdrop of the friction in his parents' relationship, Ben had feelings of abandonment and was eventually targeted by a powerful individual named Snoke,^[7] who recognized the inherent Force potential within Ben Solo, as Ben was a member of the powerful Skywalker family through his mother. Snoke, the Supreme Leader of the First Order, a military junta that tried to restore the Galactic Empire that had retreated into the Unknown Regions at the end of the Galactic Civil War, saw Ben as a focal point between the light side and the dark side of the Force—an ideal embodiment of a Force warrior—and wanted to take him as an apprentice of his own.^[10]

Fall to the dark side

Ben ultimately betrayed his uncle and embraced the dark side of the Force. He destroyed the New Jedi trainies and ruined his uncle's dream. Leaving Luke's Jedi temple in ashes, Ben Solo took on the name Kylo Ren, becoming an apprentice of Supreme Leader Snoke and a member of the Knights of Ren.^[2] He was trained by the Supreme Leader, and that training helped make Ben nothing more than a distant memory in the life of Kylo Ren. In time, he was the most gifted apprentice of the Supreme Leader and the embodiment of a new generation of dark side warriors that emerged to fill the void left by the fall of the Sith.^[10]

Ren's betrayal sent shockwaves through his family. With his Jedi destroyed, Skywalker vanished into exile. Those closest to him believed that he went in search of the first Jedi Temple,^[2] which he eventually discovered^[11] on the planet Ahch-To.^[12] Organa and Solo separated, with Solo returning to smuggling with his best friend and first mate, the Wookiee warrior Chewbacca. Organa returned to a life of war,^[2] forming a band of soldiers known as the Resistance when the New Republic Senate refused to take the emerging threat of the First Order seriously.^[10] Though Solo believed there was too much of Darth Vader in Ben and that they lost their son forever, Organa never gave up hope that there was still good in him.^[2]

His true named outlawed from the First Order, Ren sought to put his past behind him, become immune to the temptations of the light, and claim his birthright by ruling the weaker beings of the galaxy. He typically wore a helmet and black robes, patterned after the battle gear of the Knights of Ren, ancient Sith and his grandfather, in order to conceal his identity and create an intimidating demeanor. Ren's actions as a Dark Jedi earned him the nickname "Jedi Killer," a name whispered amongst the First Order ranks who knew Ren had prevented the return of the Jedi Order.^[10]